Author's Note: Thank you so much for your continued reviews and support.
*Please note that this chapter, especially Elizabeth, went a little darker than I thought she would. So please, if you're not thrilled with the angst - feel free to skip over it. (Although, I think the angst ship has sailed and my dear readers are on it, given everything this story contains) Thank you, as always!

Jason burst through the double doors of the entrance to Providence Hospital with Stevie just steps behind him.
"My Dad!" he cried, incoherently to the woman at the desk, "Henry! My sister! Allie- Allison. He's tall, dark hair. She's got black hair, brown eyes, sixteen-..."

"McCord," Stevie gasped, out of breath, "Allison and Henry McCord. A car accident-"

"Yes," the woman said, kindly. "If you'll just give me one moment, I can look up their room numbers for you."
The receptionist's phone rang at that moment and she answered it.

Jason bit down hard on his bottom lip to keep himself from yelling at the woman. He knew she meant well but they'd already waited enough tonight. It had been almost an hour since they'd left the house but Jason swore it had been years. He stole a glance at Stevie, her blue eyes were filled to the brim with tears, but she kept holding them back.
"Do you know anything about their conditions?" Stevie asked the woman and Jason gave her a lot of credit – all he felt like doing was running behind the desk, grabbing the computer and looking up the room numbers himself. It was taking every ounce of his self-control to hold himself there, right beside his sister and not go bolting through the hallways yelling for their dad and sister. He thought of what their father would say if he knew Jason had lost his temper with the woman and he tried to calm down...
Moments passed before his impatience got the best of him and he turned away from the desk, trying to take a deep breath, leaving Stevie for a moment.

"I'm sorry for making you wait. Allison McCord is on the third floor in Room 322. I can have someone take you up-"

Jason had heard enough and he was racing toward the elevator with Stevie tailing him. Michael and one of the other agents followed them. Jason felt like he was going to be sick. He punched the 3rd floor button and they stood in an edgy silence as the elevator doors slid shut.
"She couldn't tell me anything else," Stevie whispered, keeping her voice low so that only he could hear. In the car, Jason had decided that the waiting was the hardest part. The not knowing was the worst. But now, now that he was mere seconds from knowledge about his father and his sister, he felt like he could barely stand up.

He looked at Stevie and she answered him before he spoke, "322."
The elevator doors opened and they moved swiftly into a busy hallway crowded with nurses, technicians, and assistants. Jason felt Stevie grab his hand and for a moment he wanted to shake her off. He wanted to tell her he wasn't a little kid anymore and that he wasn't going to get lost in the crowd. But he stopped himself, understanding her need to be close, her need to hold onto him. To hold on to something...

They navigated their way through the medical personnel, counting door numbers as they went. "316."

"Can I help you find someone?" a nurse, coming out of room 318, asked them.

"We're fine, thank you," Stevie replied.

Then "Stevie? Jas?" they heard her. Allison's voice coming from the room just down the hall and they bolted towards the half-open door.

Jason almost fainted when he saw her. His sister, alive, right there. She'd been in the living room beside him, then almost – nowhere, gone.

Allison looked so small there in the bed, wearing a light purple hospital gown. "Allie," they both said her name in unison and Allison burst into tears. Jason watched as Stevie pulled their sister to herself without hesitation, and pressed a kiss to her bruised forehead. Stevie's tears falling against Allison's dark hair.

Jason wanted to hug her, too. He wanted to know where Dad was. He wanted to know what had happened. He wanted Mom to be here already. He wanted to scream so many different things but he settled for..."Are you hurt?"

He was surprised that he could speak at all. He took in the bandages on her hands and the stitches on her forehead. He didn't want to touch Allison yet. He was afraid he'd break her. Allison shook her head, reaching for him.
"Come here," she said softly, and Jason came close to her, pulling her against himself in a hug. He tried to ignore the angry red gash on her neck, tainting his sister's porcelain skin.

"Mom's on her way," Stevie said softly as Jason moved away. She reached for his hand as she held Allison's bandaged fingers gently.

"Any more stitches?" he asked her, eyeing her forehead. They all knew the questions loomed before them, but none of them were prepared to ask. Jason was aching inside and so he distracted himself by asking Allison about her injuries.

"No," she said, quietly. "I've got a brace on my ankle but they don't think it's broken."

"Sprain," Jason said, knowingly. "Why all this...?" he asked her, motioning to the IV running into his sister's arm. Allison fixed her gaze on their intertwined hands laying on the white blanket "I don't really know," she said quietly, "I think I passed out after I got-..." she trailed off, shaking her head and whether she was trying to remember or forget – Jason couldn't be sure.

"Twelve degrees..."
 "Four hours..."
 "Try to get a hold of Michael. He's with Stephanie and Jason."
Stevie, Jason?...
 "Can we get any word regarding their conditions?"

The chatter washed over her but it didn't have any meaning attached to it. She didn't understand. She didn't want to understand.
Her beautiful daughter. Her husband, her best friend. Their world...
Jason and Stevie were alone.
How could this have happened?
She couldn't understand.

All she knew for certain was that she was dying. Right there in the back seat next to Jay, she was sinking.
She was going to die.
She was sure of it.
Her heart was beating out of her chest but her shaky hands had frozen still. She tried to take small, quiet breaths, to slow her heart but if they were gone-
If Henry was gone-? If Allison was-?
What reason did she have to need to be alive? Her sweet daughter, her husband?
How could she live with herself knowing that they were gone and she hadn't been there?
How could she face her two gorgeous children ever again and look at them and remember that she had left them alone?
That she hadn't been there when their father and sister had-

"Ma'am, we have an ETA of 11:25pm."

Elizabeth couldn't feel her hands. She wasn't even sure where they were in relation to her body. 11:25pm.
Her limbs felt heavy and her heart was going to beat itself to death, but at Frank's words she forced herself to look at the clock on the dashboard.
11:25pm.

She read 9:12pm and something inside of her snapped.
"That's two hours from now, Frank!" she burst out shrilly, causing Jay to jump beside her.
"Ma'am, take this-"

She surprised herself by how sharp her voice sounded, while the rest of her world was dulling around the edges. She didn't care, to hell with professionalism and protocol and the Secretary of State. To hell with every damn thing that she was supposed to be other than a wife and a mother and there...

"Ma'am, here, just take this-" the opened water bottle spilling over her thigh.

"There has to be something you can do! I have to be there! Call the hospital and have them send a Life Flight for me!" she gasped. "For God's sake, they could be dead by then!" she shrieked, her terrible panic forcing her absolute worse fear from her lips.

"Ma'am!"
She felt herself slipping
"Jay, I can't – I can't breathe-"
Jay forcing the water bottle into her hand along with the tiny pill. His strong hands were meant to be comforting against her arms. But his hands weren't Henry's. She didn't want anyone except her husband to touch her.
But Henry was...
He wasn't here. He might never be again...
"I'm losing her!"
She couldn't breathe
"Ma'am, you have to look at me." Jay's hand was against her neck.
"Stay with me, Elizabeth! Jason and Stevie. They need you. Henry and Allison. Just swallow the pill. For them, Elizabeth!"